Missed Time
by Killjou
Summary: Two years is a long time. Despite being the rightful heir and Timekeeper to the Great Clock, Clank never realised this more than now.


(24/11/13 Re-edit! Grammar, sentences, blah-de-blah!)

I love Ratchet and Clank. They have been with me ever since the first game came out and are one of the main reasons I discovered the wonderful world of gaming. So I figured it's about time I honoured them with a oneshot.

A Crack in Time got me especially due to Ratchet's heart-wrenching story, and how obsessed he was with finding Clank. It struck me really hard at the end... what was it like in those two years Clank was gone for Ratchet? From his constant emotional state throughout ACIT, I would say it hit him pretty darn hard. It was excruciatingly painful for me, especially during the end of TOD at his completely and utterly BROKEN expression as he watched Clank just drift away; he looked so ready to just sink into depression.

So this takes place right after ACIT, and was a bit of a look into those two years, where no doubt Qwark would be an unneeded constant (and I definately wanted to explore Ratchet and Qwark as well; you could actually see Ratchet softening with the big lug as the game went on. He used to be openly hostile with Qwark, now he was just mildly annoyed), as well Ratchet and Clank's ever adorable bond.

**Title**: Missed Time

**Summary**: Two years is a long time. Despite being the rightful heir Timekeeper to the Great Clock, Clank never realised this more than now. Listening to Ratchet and Qwark reminisce on the Aphelion was something he never expected to hear, and it was all because of those two missing years.

**Disclaimer**: Ratchet and Clank belong to Insomniac, who actually have enough awesomeness to handle Ratchet and Clank. All I can handle are borrowing the characters for my on pleasure from time to time.

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><p>Even under Qwark's continuous blabbering and the uncomfortable feeling of being squished against the cockpit window under Ratchet's left arm and on said Lombax's lap (a fate he would often not take to well), Clank was elated.<p>

For the first time in possibly his whole life he felt as if he had finally found his path… why he was here, and what purpose he served. His path alone, and no-one else's. There was no more internal indecision, or variable calculations plaguing him. It was all so suddenly clear. His true place was- and always had been- at Ratchet's side.

Ratchet was his best friend, and most of all, his true family. The one who had stuck by him in thin and the gloriously thick, and the one who had proved himself time and time again, both in Clank's own fond optics and that of the entire universe. As long as he had Ratchet, the cosmos could throw whatever they wanted at him.

But, the cosmos had an annoying sense of humour. It had thrown Qwark at them along with his gigantic War Grok, and was now sniggering loudly as the three sat in extremely close proximity within the greatly amused Aphelion. Snowball the War Grok was clinging to the aft, despite Qwark's protests that direct contact with interstellar travel antagonised his treasured pet. Clank hadn't particularly felt the need to volunteer the information that War Groks held a natural infinity to open space due to their wandering nature, and after spending long periods of time within it developed a much more acute sense of bloodthirst. It would be his great pleasure to see Qwark find that out on his own when they would be able to discard Qwark on the closest inhabited planet the duo could.

'And I said "Really, honey? I know that you find my extremely muscular abs amazing, and I forget no genuine flattery, but I'm sorry, I just don't ride with your Noah's Starship!' And Qwark burst into shattering laughter that rumbled the ship, and its occupants within it.

Clank jerked his head in annoyance (his cramped position didn't allow him to do much else with his head) and shared a look with Ratchet (having to tilt his head to the side and up), who stuck his pink tongue out and narrowed one eye drastically, creating a comically ridiculous impersonation of their favourite green superhero. Clank giggled from his spot, jarring Ratchet's elbow, which, attached to the steering gears, created a chain reaction that sent Aphelion tumbling to the side.

Clank immediately regretted his action, for it earned him a happy pile-on within the temporarily tilted ship, with him on the bottom. Well, at least Ratchet was shielding him from Qwark. That made Clank feel both grateful and pitying towards Ratchet; he would mark this on his mental and completely endless "Things I owe Ratchet for" list.

From outside, Snowball snarled and shook the ship, his gnarled hands almost slipping off them as Aphelion quickly righted herself.

Clank caught Ratchet's grimace as his precious ship gained more damage from Qwark's chomp happy beast, but even so, Clank found himself eternally surprised by Ratchet's inaction. If by accident Clank even scratched Aphelion, he often gained himself an exclaimed growl from Ratchet despite Aphelion's nonchalance. Clank himself often found those moments amusing.

This, however, was not.

Clank began to find himself seriously worrying about Ratchet's seemingly placid temperament. He had never once been this tolerant of the bumbling green superhero. Qwark started babbling on again, which Clank tuned out again, content to let it go and snuggle into Ratchet's lap. He could feel the Lombax's heat leaking through his spacesuit, and Clank found himself completely at peace for the first time in a long, long time.

That was, until something Qwark said caught his attention.

'Hey, Ratchet, remember that time on Grenton? And how we were trapped in that cosmic flow, and were trapped there for hours until the natives found us? Well, this reminds me of that!'

Clank's antenna pinged uncertainly. When had this happened?

Ratchet snorted. 'And it was all fine and dandy until you started to hit on their crowned princess?' Ratchet answered, a clipped note of amusement in his tone that Clank identified as the one he always used when he was internally laughing, but not very happy about it. 'You set the whole tribe on edge.' Ratchet's obvious annoyance melted away as he suddenly started laughing. 'They sure put you in your place. I still regret cutting you down from that Snagglebeast lair.'

The golden Lombax mimed wiping a humours tear away from his eyes, sending a gleeful look Qwark's way. 'Man, that was entertainment in its finest form.'

Qwark pouted, then suddenly grinned slyly. 'Oh yeah? Well, I'll have you know that due to my heroic efforts in the Snaggle lair, I was rewarded with some quality time with that suuuuuucculent princess.'

'Even though '_she_' couldn't really be called a '_she_,' Ratchet grinned, looking disgusted and amused at the same time.

'Ahhh, my friend, you still do not see the brilliance of the phrase "_BEAUTY is in the eye of the BEHOLDER!_'

Qwark laughed triumphantly, and Clank was almost mortified to hear Ratchet join the nuisance.

'I remember that well. Qwark was left in cryosleep for megacycles after that. It was just me and you then, Ratchet,' Aphelion suddenly put in, her smooth feminine voice tinkling throughout the ship with laughter.

'Yeah, and I finally got some peace and quiet,' Ratchet grinned, his fingers flexing on the controls. Clank stayed silent, feeling left out. He started to suddenly wonder- and wonder even more why the thought had not occurred to him sooner- that how many of these adventures had he missed out on during his time at the clock? He was hit with an even bigger sense of loss and sadness. How much had Ratchet gone though without him?

Despite their long time apart, Ratchet's "Clank" meter seemed to be as faithfully fine-tuned as ever, and he immediately latched onto Clank's silent temperament. 'Hey, Clank. You seem quiet. Anything wrong, buddy?' He gently nudged Clank in the side, careful not to dislodge the controls again.

'Nothing of the sort, Ratchet. I am merely contemplating on our current situation of the present, and what the future shall bring.'

'Whatever you say, buddy,' Ratchet answered with a grin, fixing his gaze ahead at the swirling mass of stars and open space ahead of him, clearly not comprehending, but not caring. Just happy to be with Clank, like so many other meaningless but unforgettably important moments. Clank felt a tinging pleasurable warmth he had not felt for what felt like eons spread through him.

It felt good to be simply _needed_ as plain old Clank.

'But enough about that,' Ratchet began, turning his excited gaze down to Clank. Clank tilted his head up in order to see Ratchet, which resulted in a cute eye lock between them, all of Clank's thoughts shared within their gaze. 'Tell me about the clock! And meeting your father! I understand he was a great… well, a great whatever he was.'

Clank looked down and smiled in memory. Qwark's jaw hit his chest, which was the closest thing to the floor of the ship as it could get, and he squealed piercingly. 'You had a daddy? Oh, happy day, little buddy! So, did he get down with your hot supercomputer momma? I wonder how that went down! RRRAWWW—rrrr!'

Clank jolted in annoyance when Qwark started shifting eagerly next to him in effort to lean closer to listen, reminding him that it was not just him and Ratchet.

Despite the awaiting expectancy for his story, an extremely _silent _silence followed, and Clank heard Ratchet breath heavily onto his head, struggling not to laugh at Qwark's comment. That irked Clank, and he felt his irritation at Qwark rise.

Not feeling entirely comfortable, Clank simply said; 'He was remarkable, Ratchet. Very much like me. And to meet him… or, well, a memory of him, to be precise… to know how I was created; it was quite astounding. It feels wonderful to be able to say I am truly proud of my father.' He made a conscious effort in tilting his head to speak up to Ratchet, completely foregoing Qwark.

Again, silence reigned, although this one was different. Curious at Ratchet's silence, Clank tilted his head in order to glance at his best friend, and almost slapped himself when he caught sight of Ratchet's sad smile. How could he have said it so carelessly like that? Ratchet was now probably thinking about his own deceased family, or even worse, the freshly departed Lombax general… Clank had not even properly met the elder, but from what he understood, he had meant a great deal to Ratchet. Clank's processors could not even attempt to wonder how that would feel to finally have a touchable connection to a past that had always been out of reach, only to have it disappear just as it got to be familiar.

Suddenly privy to the awkwardness of the things the two of them were clearly not going to tell him, Qwark swallowed loudly and made a show of stretching (as best he could, which consisted of him simply tilting his chin up and flexing his shoulders) before glancing between the two heroes. 'Weeeelllll…. I think I'm just gonna… stare out the window in awkward silence while admiring this LOVELY view! I mean, wow! Look at those solar plexil formations! Amazing! You sure don't see that from a normal window view, do ya?'

Clank shook his head, before dispelling Qwark completely and shifting sideways in order to look Ratchet solemnly in the eye. Nothing was said as Clank reached backwards somewhat awkwardly and placed a small servo on the Lombax's shoulder, tilting his head at an insane angle in order to look Ratchet dead in the eye, and smiled sadly.

Ratchet's ears drooped, but he smiled back regardless, the pain in his heart slowly mending from Clank's caring presence. Nothing was said, but both knew. As long as they had each other, the universe didn't stand a chance. Then Ratchet laughed softly, noticing Clank's uncomfortable posture.

'Uhhhhhh, sorry, but looking at stars is only fun for so long. And just on a maybe soon could I maybe go for a potty stop? And I think Snowball is hungry for blood again, just so you know…'

Clank wondered if it would seem completely out of character if he started strangling the longtime superhero. No doubt it was something Ratchet would do, and as such, he would not escape doing it without much criticism from the hypocritical Lombax. Clank shook his head, smiling. At least he was far closer to understanding most of Ratchet's irrational thoughts than he was when he first met the Lombax.

* * *

><p>Clank suddenly opened his optics with a small whirr. Confused as to why he had been roused from his standby doze when the ship was so quiet and dark, he turned his head this way and that slowly, still rusty in movement from his short recharge.<p>

It wasn't much of a surprise in finding how he woke when he suddenly felt a fuzzy chin drop unexpectedly onto his head and rest there a few seconds before jolting up again. Amused and charmed, Clank stayed completely silent and waited. After a few sad attempts not to, Ratchet's head slumped forward again and Clank felt Ratchet's head drop heavily onto his own.

He giggled quietly at his best friend's antics. Ratchet was far too stubborn to ever admit he was out of energy, even on sleep's threshold. In situations like this, only when Ratchet did actually slump over the controls would Clank take over, going with his common protocol by settling Ratchet into the ship's temporary sleep mode seating and sliding the controls to his side in order to pilot Aphelion himself. Ratchet never let him take the controls otherwise (again despite Aphelion's insistence that he would always be her favourite pilot). Both she and Clank summarised that it was his Lombax pride… and stubborn knee-jerk instincts to be the "man" of the ship, even though Aphelion objected to such bias phrasing.

Although, Clank was now wondering how on Veldin he was going to engage the ship's sleep seat function with Qwark's behind taking up most of the ship.

Ratchet jerked up again with a disconcerted mumble. Qwark, whom Clank assumed to be asleep, but couldn't see and didn't really care, suddenly shifted and moved closer to the Lombax. Clank wasn't expecting that.

Clank also wasn't expecting Qwark to suddenly grab Ratchet by the shoulder and gently guide the Lombax against his side, lifting his arm around Ratchet in order to grasp the controls. Nor did he expect the normally stupid and conceited man to wiggle around until Ratchet was comfortably snuggled upright against his side, and blissfully asleep.

This put Clank in an extremely squished position on Ratchet's slightly upturned lap under Qwark's elbow, but the small robot was past even acknowledging that.

Ratchet suddenly shifted, and a jade green eye lazily slid halfway open. 'Aphelion, make sure he doesn't crash you again,' he mumbled in a slightly incoherent voice. ''M 'not… holdin' back… if he does…again…'

'Consider it done,' Aphelion assured her pilot soothingly, before she tilted her direction slightly in correspondence to Ratchet's earlier orders, going against Qwark's uncharacteristically steady hand. 'Goodnight, Ratchet.'

A gloved hand suddenly groped around blindly, and Clank felt himself being pulled against Ratchet's warm and extremely comfy chest, enclosed in Ratchet's arms as he was cuddled like a child's retro-bear.

Clnak blinked rapidly, completely befuzzled by these recent turn of events as he looked around the cabin. Ratchet had never been this 'cuddly' with him before, and this puzzled Clank to no end, because Ratchet was the stubborn and prideful kind, who still held the slightly immature view that those sort of affectionate gestures were undignified. This in itself had never bothered Clank; when they appreciated each other, it was happily passed within a look or a short word of kindness through the connection they shared.

But this…

From this and Clank's extensive long life experience with Ratchet, this sudden shower of cuddly affection was... puzzling. But nowhere near as much as Ratchet's attitude towards Qwark was right now, and that was a completely different galaxy topic.

Ratchet had always despised the man. Hated him for being a fraud. For stealing his glory. For mucking up most of his missions. For being an overall snaggle-brained twit. If Racthet was not quite conscious, Clank could see this happening, but not at all with Ratchet completely aware. Clanks frazzled processor was seriously confused at all this strange behaviour.

…And why in Orvus's madhouse collection of 'Zoni gone wild' was QWARK driving Aphelion at Ratchet's agreement? This was the Ratchet that seldom let Clank drive!

It was… disturbing. And thought-inducing.

If this continued without answers Clank feared he would burst a valve.

Clank began to feel that life had, indeed, gone on far more than he would have wanted with Ratchet during his absence. That both scared and awed him into sadness.

He snuggled into Ratchet's hold, vowing never to leave the Lombax again, and smiled at the soft muffled snoring that exhaled from Ratchet's mouth right above Clank's antenna that pushed it back and forwards gently. The feeling was quite relaxing.

He gently twisted his head around so as not to disturb Ratchet in order to glance upwards and to the side at Qwark, who was happily humming a sad little tune to himself while steering. And with practiced ease, Clank noticed with slight bitterness.

Somehow, his small movement gained the notice of Qwark, who grinned goofily down at him. Clank was, yet again, surprised at Qwark's sudden intelligence, as the man seemed to now hold enough smarts in order to whisper with Ratchet asleep next to them. Although, weather it was out of kindness, respect or fear Clank didn't know. There was a 90% chance it was the third, though.

'Ahhh, the hero awakens! Hows it goin' buddy? Geez, can you believe it? These have been a last few crazy days, huh? No wonder the fluffball is out like a Xtroblastian glow-worm! Of course, he has yet to learn the true torture of forcing one's self to be constantly on your feet like I have.'

Clank inwardly snorted and fought the urge to giggle. No doubt the man would never _ever_ call Ratchet "Fluffball" while the Lombax was conscious. Qwark valued his life far too much. Feeling slightly smug, Clank entertained the idea of calling Ratchet that later in front of Qwark in order to see both of the other male's reactions. Ratchet certainly wouldn't _kill_ him, but still...

Shaking those thoughts away, Clank stayed in silent thought for a few moments before his gaze traveled to Ratchet.

'How…' Clank started with uncertainty while looking back to Qwark. Qwark, possibly for once in his life, waited patiently, seemingly sensing the sudden seriousness in Clank's tone and posture.

Proving this, Clank made a sound akin to one cleaning out their throat awkwardly. '…how has Ratchet been during my absence?'

The silence Qwark gave suddenly made Clank realise that the question he asked had a much deeper and darker undertone to it than Clank intended for it to have. And he instantly found himself worried.

'Qwark. I do not believe you have answered my question.'

Qwark jerked uncomfortably and let out a short, nervous laugh. 'Oh, yeah, totally yeah, yeah… um… he's been good?' He gave a risking glance down at the tiny robot, and found himself quaking at the commanding glare he found there.

'Qwark, I do not believe you are being completely honest with me, not to mention that the continued badly punctuated use of the abbreviated word "_yeah_" indicates that you are hiding something from me, and are quite nervous about it.'

Qwark's eyes widened considerably. Clank did not pause, and continued in his hard, no-nonsense tone: 'It is not a good idea to lie to me, Qwark. If this is something concerning Ratchet's welfare, I must know it.'

Silence. Qwark peeked down. The glare was there, but somehow, it was more heated and demanding than before. Letting out an undignified "_Eeep_!" Qwark did the only honourable and heroic option he could do in such a situation: relent and give in.

'Wellllllll…. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone otherwise he said he'd remove a… certain valuable part of my anatomy in a surprisingly delightful vocabulary… did you know some of the_ disgusting _words he has picked up—'

'Qwark.'

'-yes, well, it was nothing really. He just got really worked up after you were taken, and kinda sorta almost fought himself to death, and got sick and depressed from your hopeless situation and I kind of maybe accidentally didn't know until alooooot of time had passed—'

Clank knew he must have looked completely horrified, and seeing Qwark's heartbroken and miserable expression when he caught sight of his own only proved it.

Qwark seemed to shrink in on himself, and his mountain shoulders almost swallowed his drastically miss-sized head between them. 'And I'm really very sorry and I should have done more but I did the best I could and he never listens to me you know he doesn't!' He whispered out furiously in a guilty word vomit, as if that would save him from Clank's wrath, or better yet, rid himself of the guilt he felt from the time during the past two years from the ignorance he held of Ratchet's miserable state.

Clank felt shocked. He had to take a few moments, firstly just to sort through and make sense of everything Qwark had blurted, then another few just to process them correctly. Ratchet… had been that worried about him?

'How…' Clank heard something tapping, then realised it was his own body shaking against Ratchet's titanium armour. 'How bad was he? And I want no shortcuts, Qwark. Measures must be taken to ensure this never happens again.'

Qwark swallowed, and this time when he glanced down, he took in the image of the two curled up together, finally reunited after so long. Then he remembered how bad the Lombax had gotten in his obsessive worry and fear over Clank.

He sighed, raising one hand to rub at his face. Outside, Snowball simpered against the top of the cockpit shield, as if sensing his master needed critical emotional support. Well, his master _always_ needed emotional support, but this was indefinitely different to Qwark's definition of 'normal.'

'Well, little buddy, two years is a long time. At first, he just kinda drifted around, like he has suddenly lost his mind… which, I guess he kind of did, with you gone…heh heh…'

Qwark risked a look down to see if Clank laughed at his weak joke, quickly resuming when Clank was not entertained.

'For the first year or so he spent every moment he had trying to find leads on you, where you had been taken, or anything at all about the Zoni. He went everywhere he possibly could. I didn't hear much from him during this time, seeing as I was on the set for my new film: "_My Blaster runs Hot_," which I can now show you guys! But, hey, all in good time. I _had_ been trying to reach Ratchet a little, and I couldn't really believe it when he actually responded to me each time.

'I mean, you know how he never, never _ever_ used to message me back! At first I just though he finally wanted a piece of me, cause, I mean, who doesn't? I should have realised that, I guess, he really needed the contact. Or the friendship, or the sanity, I dunno, but it just got worse.'

Qwark looked forward at this, and Clank felt extremely out of place, suddenly wanted nothing to do with this strange situation, and the terrifyingly serious Qwark that came with it. Clank had not even been aware that Qwark possessed a greater mental capacity for a such a conversation until now.

'He came back, all introverted and sullen; it was actually really scary. Both me and the Apogee dame had to actually force him to eat and rest for a few weeks. And I tell you, hand feeding Ratchet was not something I looked forward to each day…'

A small shudder ran through Qwark's body at this, although it was more for the actual memories he suddenly found himself reliving. He remembered the day Ratchet had returned; half-dead on exhaustion, and aimlessly starving under the need to continue searching. It had been so terrifying to see the usual tough and sturdy young hero cut down by an invisible enemy, one that Qwark knew could kill with the ease of a rampaging War Grok, sans Snowball, of course. Taking Ratchet to the Apogee Station was even worse; Qwark had forced to carry the Lombax in himself via teleporter pod, and had winced at just how light and out of it Ratchet had been.

He never, _ever_ wanted to see Ratchet like that again.

Clank felt Aphelion shift around them, her movement of nodding. 'It's true,' she confirmed gently, sounding defeated. 'You should have seen him, Clank. He never listened to me, not once. And the state he was in…'

'It wasn't long before he left with Talwyn in efforts to find you. I think that the only real reason she went with him was to make sure he didn't almost kill himself again…They were gone for ages, but I think that's where he found some sort of clue to where you were; he came to Metropolis to me raving about how he finally found it, and this time it was true. Even more amazing, he asked me along! Hah! I knew that day would come! I had my hands tied with many other official duties of a public hero, but I said "Whaddya know? Sometimes when a dear friend comes knocking, the world just has to wait! I'll still be here at the end of the day!"'

Clank inclined his head, awaiting the end.

'And then, well, you know, we just kind of set off. It was great having a sidekick again and being back in action! Ahhh, to feel alive again… We travelled together until we met the Fongiods, then we sort of split, and he met up with that rebel... And the rest, is proverbial holo history, as they say.'

Clank transferred his worried gaze to Ratchet, already tuning Qwark out. He had been so engrossed with his own discovered destiny and life-altering choices he had seldom considered the ones Ratchet had been confronted with… on a daily basis. Or anything his greatest friend had gone through. All to get him home safe… and save a galaxy that barely knew he existed. A crushing weight settled with him, the love for his friend swelling, along with the pain for him he felt.

Qwark broke through his internal debate. 'I know I don't often act like it… But everything Ratchet has done… I wouldn't be able to do anything without him. He's…' Qwark trailed off, sounding genuinely uncomfortable, yet grateful, before finally adopting his usual tone full of bravo. 'Don't ever get yourself taken again, or I'll come down upon you myself like a fabled Goriatobian Ange-ton!'

Clank didn't even wait until Qwark finished his sentence before he nodded his head gently in confirmation. Shifting his hand up, he tenderly rubbed it along Ratchet's face. A gentle purr resounded from Ratchet's chest, something Clank never got tired of hearing, and only had the privilege of on special occasions.

Qwark jumped slightly at the sudden vibrations, then grinned. Clank turned his head at a complete ninety degree angle in order to smile softly at Ratchet. All of his gratitude and care came out in that one action.

'Thank you Qwark,' Clank said softly. 'I will never let anything like this happen again.'

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><p>Has anyone ever noticed that Qwark talks about sex and picking up chicks? Like, a lot? In almost every cutscene there is some kind of hidden innuendo from him, or even outright flirting. It's hilarious. I'll never forget that "I feel very close to you right now," And who can forget his "How was I supposed to know she was your sister? It was MATING season!" Dear god XD<p> 


End file.
